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17a.
So I’d decided to come back and check it out under the cover of night.
I’d made four passes around the block before I’d finally decided to approach it from the back.
I glanced over at the camera sitting on the passenger seat that I’d brought along in case I needed to snap some pictures from a distance.
I almost laughed at the ludicrousness of what I was doing. Did I really think I was some kind of detective? A private investigator?
Photography was my passion. The one thing I’d ever gone after for myself. A dream that had sparked in the middle of the war zone that had been mine and Jessica’s lives.
Sadness squeezed my chest as I thought of the way that dream had been ripped right out from under me, too.
It seemed appropriate that I’d use the camera as a tool to fight for the one person in this world who meant anything. Everyone else in my life might have abandoned me, but I knew in my soul Jessica never would.
“We might not be able to rely on anyone else in this world, but we rely on each other. It’s just you and me. Always and forever,” I whispered to her.
Jessica twisted her pinky finger around mine. “You and me, always and forever.”
I sucked in a steeling breath before I grabbed my camera and murmured beneath my breath, “Always and forever.”
I snapped open my door then quietly latched it behind me, and I placed the camera strap around my neck as my attention darted each direction in the deserted alley.
My heart thundered in my chest, and when I sensed no movement, I ran on my tiptoes across the alley to the high fence that backed the apartment on the other side.
All stealth-like as I pressed my back against it and made myself invisible.
I almost grinned. Maybe I really was good at this investigating thing.
Okay, probably not considering my breaths were jutting so harsh and loud that I was likely waking every resident in the complex, and I tried to quiet them as I crept forward until I made it to the gate that opened to the back parking lot. It wasn’t locked, and I lifted the latch, nudged it open, and peered inside.
A warm glow covered the lot, and cars took up most every spot of the small complex.
The apartment building was super nice, verging on luxury. Unrest churned through my consciousness. How the hell could Jessica have afforded this place?
Not when I was the one who’d always taken care of her—supported her the best that I could.
I had to admit, though, that this definitely would have fit her tastes.
She’d spent her whole life telling me she was going to be rich when she grew up, whatever it took, and those ideas had turned into her own dreams of being a fashion and makeup influencer as she’d gotten older.
And she’d been right there…right there…before she’d disappeared, leaving behind that single text that I could never accept.
Ignoring the disturbance that tugged at my spirit, I pressed forward because I wasn’t about to give up, and I hurried under the cover of night toward the two-story building, ducking behind cars and trees before I found the sidewalk that cut through the middle of the building. It opened up to a big courtyard in the middle, and at the center of it was a pool surrounded by trees. A bunch of loungers and tables were situated all around.
Oh yeah, Jess would have loved this place, and I hoped to God that maybe I would just find her here, living her life the way she wanted to—even if it meant she wanted to live it without me in it.
I would accept it if that’s what truly made her happy.
I glanced at my palm where I’d written the numbers in Sharpie.
17a
Lights were hung beside each door, and I could see that the numbers to my left started at one on the front side and ended at 10 right near me, and continued counting up from there.
Seventeen would be to my right.
I moved that direction, creeping past each door, silently counting under my breath as I went.
Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…
My heart was beating so erratically by the time I got to sixteen that I couldn’t breathe, and I was shaking like a jackhammer by the time I got to 17a. Hands quivering out of control. This had to be it. There had to be something.
I could feel it.
Swallowing around the lump in my throat, I quickly peeked around me to make sure no one was around, then I sucked in a deep breath and pushed up to the window, my nose touching the glass as I tried to peer inside.
Crap.
The drapes were drawn.
I warred, fidgeted, and glanced around again before I moved up to the door. Nerves rattled me through.
